Progress on my 75 Morris Mini Pickup

[widman]

A little progress on the engine. But have to wait for new lifters to come from the UK

Lots of new parts, and a chromed heat shield

 

[widman]

I took an afternoon off the other day and assembled the engine

Body guy finished up modifying the cabin and fenders to match the roll-up window doors from the 94 front clip.

 

[Warstud]

How long until it gets painted. And what color?

 

[widman]

Timing of the painting depends on whether my body guy keeps at it or gets distracted again. Today he should be working on the speaker mounts and we will determine the seat positions to make their mounts. Still some work to do where the front cowl was damaged in shipment, and a few holes to fill, etc. Still has to fabricate the wheel flares.
Could be only weeks away.

I already gave him the new rear window, and will be taking the old windshield with me to Santa Cruz tomorrow to have copied.

Color will be red. You can see the darker red on the front fender that we painted this week to see whether I liked it, but I think it is too dark, so will probably go with the Fire Red you see in the little triangle between the door and the front.

 

[TFB1]

Originally Posted By: widman
Timing of the painting depends on whether my body guy keeps at it or gets distracted again.


LOL, that's a quality that almost all good body men seem to possess...

It's looking good so far, lots of work has gone into the project...

 

[widman]

Now we are going to lower the seat mounts about 1 1/2 inches even though there is enough head room.

 

[Garak]

Richard, next summer take a "vacation" in Saskatchewan. I have an F-150 that would love some of your attention.

 

[widman]

Last time I was there was 1985 on my way from Winnipeg to Calgary, en route to the Arctic Circle and Alaska.

 

[Garak]

Coincidentally, that's when the truck last looked new!

 

[widman]

In the weekend I just spent in Tarija I got a few things done.

First put the rear wheels with 3/4" spacers on. From there we could see what needed to happen to finish the design of the flares, bringing the rear in closer to the wheel well and narrowing it a bit so it just passes the tire position. What you see here is the final design (except it is missing a little tail piece in the front.

Then the front discs. They will set the track 6 cm wider in front than the rears with the spacers, so the flares needed to be 3 cm wider (about 1-1/4 ") than the rears on each side.

So a little forming, welding, forming, etc. In these pics the front one still needs some rounding, plus forming of the ends. But you get the idea. Then we will add the inner liner, welded to the inner wheel well.


Final design

heating to bend to wheel well

 

[widman]

And a little more

 

[Papa Bear]

I remember my grandfather telling me about 1950 that you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

You may prove him wrong ....

Bob

 

[widman]

I added a couple of u-joints to the steering column and moved the wheel over closer to the door to fit the new seats better.

And adapted the instruments from the 94 clip to a custom wood dashboard

 

[widman]

Finally moving on the body again

 

[andyd]

Wow, neat resto mods. I spent the day under my 528e grafting a used Boysen catback from an M5. How old is the timing belt on the 325i's engine.

 

[JAG]

Awesome, thanks for sharing!

 

[widman]

Quote:
How old is the timing belt on the 325i's engine. grin2



Thanks for reminding me. It's only been about 21,000 miles, but time flies, so it is probably close to 10 years. Time to order one.

 

[asand1]

I would like to see more pics of the big truck in the foreground here;

 

[widman]

I finally got back to Tarija with my modified frame for the automatic transmission, and with a little persuasion (torch & hammer), installed the engine this afternoon.

 

[RTexasF]

Sir you make accomplishing the impossible seem routine. I am in awe of what you have done with your "fleet".